Admiral de Rigny; portrait by
François-Gabriel Lépaulle (1836)

Marie Henri Daniel Gauthier, comte de Rigny (French pronunciation::​; 2 February 1782 – 6 November 1835) was the commander of the French squadron at the Battle of Navarino in the Greek War of Independence.

Contents

• 1 Biography
  • 1.1 Family
  • 1.2 Entry in the Naval Forces
  • 1.3 Land operations and campaigns
  • 1.4 Commander of the French naval forces in the Levant
  • 1.5 Return in France
  • 1.6 Private life
• 2 Honours
• 3 References
• 4 External links

Biography

Family

He was a nephew of Baron Joseph Dominique, baron Louis, and son of a former captain in the Penthièvre Dragoon regiment, and who died leaving five small boys, including his brother, the future General Rigny. The French Revolution led him out of the Pont-à-Mousson school, where he had been sent. He was ten years old then, had lost his father and his mother was listed as the list of emigrants. An aunt collected the family, consisting of a young girl of sixteen years and five boys, including Henry, the eldest.

Entry in the Naval Forces

Henri de Rigny, Vice-Admiral, Commander of the naval forces of France, in the seas of the Levant (painted lithograph by Philéad Salvator Lévilly, National Historical Museum of Greece, Engraving Collection).

After spending several months in Special School in Brest, where he had been sent there to finish his studies, in 1798, he entered the navy as a midshipman with Admiral Étienne Eustache Bruix. In 1799 he was appointed midshipman.

He *isted in the blockade of Porto Ferrajo and the Battle of Algeciras, and then he made the Egyptian campaign, and took part in the Saint-Domingue expedition, Corsica and Spain. In 1803 he was appointed ensign and as such sent to the camp of Boulogne, he was responsible for commanding the corvette La Triomphante.

Land operations and campaigns

Interrogated by Napoleon about the tides for the invasion of England, the young sailor gave to the Emperor a response strong and concise. Embedded with the marines of the Guard in the Army in 1806 and 1807, he made in the course of two years these campaigns Prussia, Poland and Pomerania; fought at Jena, to Pułtusk, the siege of Stralsund and Graudentz, where he was wounded. *igned to the army of Spain in 1808, he became aide-de-camp of Marshal Bessières; he distinguished himself at the Battle of Medina de Rioseco, and was wounded at the Battle of Somosierra, and he witnessed the capture of Madrid, in 1809, and the Battle of Wagram.

Commander of the French naval forces in the Levant

The Battle of Navarino on 20 October 1827.

In 1816, he was elevated to the rank of captain. In 1822 he received the command of the French naval forces *embled in the Levant (flagship the frigate Médée). He soon raised the French flag daily in these waters against the Greek and Turkish pirates, his intelligent care settled in the Archipelago Police navigation. He was appointed Admiral in 1825, and raised his pennant in his flagship Sirène. In September 1827 the French government tasked him with the enforcement of the joint resolution by France, Russia, and England, who had united to wrest Greece from the Turkish rule. He commanded the French fleet at the Battle of Navarino on 20 October 1827, which action earned him the Cross of the Order of the Bath, the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, and promotion to Vice-Admiral.

An obelisk-shaped memorial dedicated to the victory of the Allied fleets and their three admirals, the French admiral Henri de Rigny, the British admiral Edward Codrington, and the Russian admiral Lodewijk van Heiden was later erected on the central square of Pylos. The monument was the work of the sculptor Thomas T*poulos (1873–1937) and its unveiling took place in 1930, although it was completed in 1933.

Return in France

Henri de Rigny (lithography executed by Antoine Maurin in 1835) Caricature by Honoré Daumier, 1833.

Back in France after the evacuation of the Morea, which he chaired, the Admiral was appointed maritime prefect of Toulon in 1829. In 1829, king Charles X awarded him the *le of Count of Rigny, but he refused until 8 August that year, the portfolio of the Navy in the Polignac ministry. Admiral Count Rigny went into the Levant to resume command of the fleet. Returning to Toulon for health reasons, in September 1830 he was appointed to the Board of Admiralty, and received the decoration of Grand Officier of the Legion of Honor.

Called in 1831 to the Chamber of Deputies by a double election, Admiral Rigny received, on 3 March that year, king Louis-Philippe, the portfolio of the navy. *igned on 4 April 1834, the Department of Foreign Affairs, he started that administration of a new activity. On 12 March 1835 his health became increasingly unsteady, forcing him to resign his ministerial duties, but in August, he accepted a short mission to Naples. He was barely back in late October, when he felt the first attacks of which he suc*bed on the night of 6 to 7 November 1835 at the age of 52 years. After his death, his widow gave birth to a daughter, Amelia Marie Gaultier Rigny, born on 7 February 1868. She married Baron Verneaux and died on 6 July 1868 at the Chateau de Ris Ris-Orangis. The Countess of Rigny, his mother also died at the Chateau de Ris on 13 November 1875.

Private life

On 17 September 1834 Henri de Rigny married Adele Defontaine Narcissus, of Mons (born 13 May 1803), widow in her first marriage to a wealthy Belgian businessman, Daniel Honnor Florent François (1780–1830), with whom she had two daughters: Elise (1826–1876), later *ss of Padua by her marriage with Louis Arrighi de Casanova, and Leonie (1829–1892), later Marchioness of Talhouët by her marriage with Auguste de Talhouët-Roy.

Honours

• Mount Rigny in Greenland, was named after him.
• Streets in Paris, Nancy, Toul, Saint-Amand-Longpré, Arc-lès-Gray, in France were named after him.
• A street in Athens, Greece was named after him.
• A memorial monument on the central square of Pylos in Greece was dedicated to him (work of the Greek sculptor Thomas T*poulos (1873–1937), unveiled in 1930, although it was completed in 1933).

• Memorial monument dedicated to the three admirals of the Battle of Navarino on the central square of Pylos de Rigny (ΔΕΡΙΓΝΥ)

• Philhellenes Monument (Nafplion)

References

External links

• Media related to Henri de Rigny at Wikimedia Commons

Greek EnlightenmentEuropean intervention and
Greek involvement in
the Napoleonic Wars

• Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)
• Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca
• Greek Plan of Catherine the Great
• Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)
• French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars
  • Fall of the Republic of Venice
  • Republican French rule in the Ionian Islands
  • Septinsular Republic
  • Greek Legion
  • Imperial French rule in the Ionian Islands
  • Albanian Regiment
  • Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814
  • 1st Regiment Greek Light Infantry
• United States of the Ionian Islands

Ideas

• Greek nationalism
• Eastern Orthodox Christianity
• Liberalism
• Cons*utionalism
• Monarchism

EventsSieges

• Patras
• Salona
• Navarino
• Livadeia
• 1st Acropolis
• Tripolitsa
• Arta
• Acrocorinth
• Nauplia
• 1st Messolonghi
• 2nd Messolonghi
• 3rd Messolonghi
• 2nd Acropolis

Battles

• Kalamata
• Wallachian uprising
• Alamana
• Gravia
• Valtetsi
• Doliana
• Lalas
• Vasilika
• Dragashani
• Sculeni
• Vasilika
• Trench
• Peta
• Dervenakia
• Kar*i
• Greek civil wars
• Sphacteria
• Maniaki
• Lerna Mills
• Mani
• Distomo
• Arachova
• Kamatero
• Phaleron
• Chios expedition
• Martino
• Koronisia
• Petra

M*acres

• Constantinople
• Thessaloniki
• Navarino
• Tripolitsa
• Naousa
• Samothrace
• Chios
• Psara
• Kasos
• Cyprus

Naval conflicts

• Eresos
• Chios
• Nauplia
• Samos
• Andros
• Sphacteria
• Gerontas
• Souda
• Alexandria
• Volos
• Itea
• Navarino

Ships

• Greek sloop Karteria
• Greek brig Aris

Greek regional councils and statutes

• Messenian Senate
• Directorate of Achaea
• Peloponnesian Senate
• Senate of Western Continental Greece
• Areopagus of Eastern Continental Greece
• Provisional Regime of Crete
• Military-Political System of Samos

Greek national *emblies

• First (Epidaurus) (Executive of 1822)
• Second (Astros)
• Third (Troezen)
• Fourth (Argos)
• Fifth (Nafplion)

International Conferences,
Treaties and Protocols

• Congress of Laibach
• Congress of Verona
• Protocol of St. Petersburg (1826)
• Treaty of London
• Conference of Poros
• London Protocol of 1828
• London Protocol of 1829
• Treaty of Adrianople
• London Protocol of 1830
• London Conference
• Treaty of Constantinople

Related

• Greek expedition to Syria (1825)
• Russo-Turkish War (1828–29)

PersonalitiesGreece

• Chian Committee
• Odysseas Androutsos
• Anagnostaras
• Markos Botsaris
• Laskarina Bouboulina
• Constantin Denis Bourbaki
• Hatzimichalis Dalianis
• Kanellos Deligiannis
• Athanasios Diakos
• Germanos III of Old Patras
• Nikolaos Galatis
• Dimitrios Kallergis
• Athanasios Kanakaris
• Konstantinos Kanaris
• Ioannis Kapodistrias
• Stamatios Kapsas
• Panagiotis Karatzas
• Georgios Karaiskakis
• Nikolaos Kasomoulis
• Ioannis Kolettis
• Theodoros Kolokotronis
• Georgios Kountouriotis
• Antonios Kriezis
• Nikolaos Kriezotis
• Kyprianos of Cyprus
• Georgios L*anis
• Lykourgos Logothetis
• Andreas Londos
• Yannis Makriyannis
• Manto Mavrogenous
• Alexandros Mavrokordatos
• Petrobey Mavromichalis
• Andreas Metaxas
• Andreas Miaoulis
• Theodoros Negris
• Nikitaras
• Antonis Oikonomou
• Ioannis Orlandos
• Papaflessas
• Dimitrios Papanikolis
• Emmanouel Pappas
• Christoforos Perraivos
• Nikolaos Petimezas
• Vasileios Petimezas
• Panagiotis Rodios
• Georgios Sachtouris
• Georgios Sisinis
• Iakovos Tombazis
• Anastasios Tsamados
• Meletis Vasileiou
• Demetrios Ypsilantis

Philhellenes

• António Figueira d'Almeida
• Michail Komninos Afentoulief
• Joseph Balestra
• Lord Byron
• François-René de Chateaubriand
• Richard Church
• Giuseppe Chiappe
• Lord Cochrane
• Vincenzo Gallina
• Charles Fabvier
• Thomas Gordon
• Frank Abney Hastings
• Carl von Heideck
• Vasos Mavrovouniotis
• Johann Jakob Meyer
  • Ellinika Chronika
• Karl Normann
• Maxime Raybaud
• Giuseppe Rosaroll
• Santorre di Santa Rosa
• Friedrich Thiersch
• Auguste Hilarion Touret
• German Legion:
• Serbs
• Olivier Voutier

Moldavia and Wallachia
(Danubian Principalities)

• Alexander Ypsilantis
• Sacred Band
• Nikolaos Ypsilantis
• Alexandros Kantakouzinos
• Georgios Kantakouzinos
• Athanasios Agrafiotis
• Giorgakis Olympios
• Yiannis Pharmakis
• Dimitrie Macedonski
• Tudor Vladimirescu
• Konstantinos Xenokratis
• Anastasios Manakis
• Stamatios Kleanthis

Ottoman Empire, Algeria, and Egypt

• Sultan Mahmud II
• Hurshid Pasha
• Nasuhzade Ali Pasha
• Ismael Gibraltar
• Omer Vrioni
• Kara Mehmet
• Mahmud Dramali Pasha
• Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha
• Reşid Mehmed Pasha
• Yussuf Pasha
• Ibrahim Pasha
• Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi

Britain, France and Russia

• George Canning
• Stratford Canning
• Edward Codrington
• Henri de Rigny
• Lodewijk van Heiden
• Alexander I of Russia
• Nicholas I of Russia

Financial aid

• London Philhellenic Committee
• Ludwig I of Bavaria
• Jean-Gabriel Eynard
• Lazaros Kountouriotis
• Ioannis Papafis
• Georgios Stavros
• Ioannis Varvakis
• Rothschild & Co

Morea expeditionHistorians/Memoirists

• Dimitrios Ainian
• Fotis Chrysanthopoulos
• Ioannis Filimon
• George Finlay
• Ambrosios Frantzis
• Konstantinos Metaxas
• Panoutsos Notaras
• Panagiotis Papatsonis
• Anastasios Polyzoidis
• Georgios Tertsetis
• Spyridon Trikoupis

Art

• Eugène Delacroix
• Louis Dupré
• Peter von Hess
• Victor Hugo
• François Pouqueville
• Alexander Pushkin
• Karl Krazeisen
• Andreas Kalvos
• Dionysios Solomos
• Theodoros Vryzakis
• Hellas
• The Reception of Lord Byron at Missolonghi
• Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi
• Le siège de Corinthe
• The M*acre at Chios
• The Free Besieged
• Hymn to Liberty
• The Archipelago on Fire
• Loukis Laras
• The Apotheosis of Athanasios Diakos

Remembrance

• 25 March (Independence Day)
• Hymn to Liberty
• Eleftheria i thanatos
• Pedion tou Areos
• Propylaea (Munich)
• Garden of Heroes (Missolonghi)
• Royal Phalanx
• Evzones (Presidential Guard)